That Would Be Absurd
by renivatio
Summary: one-shot. Ichigo and Rukia lying in their seperate beds/closets and thinking of each other...


my first fanfic ;)

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**But That Would Be Absurd**

Night had settled with a hush over Karakura Town. The moon, full and bright, seemed to glow with an unfamiliar etherealness; as if someone had draped it with a curtain of satin. Or so it seemed to Kurosaki Ichigo as he lay on his bed, sheets white-washed with celestial brilliance.

His eyes wandered over to the closet. The night was silent and if he strained his ears he could hear the soft breathing of its inhabitant. A short intake, a short exhale…why was it that this simple sound filled his heart with such intense happiness? It must be the opposite of the deafening loneliness he had endured for the past few months.

Rukia…

The name came to his mind so easily, so quickly. With her midnight-hair and petite figure, when and why had she crawled into his heart? Ichigo certainly didn't know. Like a butterfly she fluttered into his life, but like a tornado, she turned his world upside down. Then, again, she left; once more the butterfly that roamed from place to place, leaving no trace of its existence.

Only…memories.

And it was in these memories that Ichigo had lived, no, drowned. In his sleep, he relived their first meeting, their bickering, and their farewell.

Why had he let her go? But no, she would never have stayed with him. What right had he to lay a claim on such a divine creature? In Rukia's very words, he was an idiot. What bond did he have to her? Perhaps you could call their relationship friendship, but nothing more. It only made sense for him to return to his normal life of a teenage schoolboy and her to return to her family and friends in Soul Society.

So why did it feel like the sunlight had been sucked out of his world?

What Rukia meant to him, Ichigo could not explain. Was it the toughness she used as a shield to hide a sensitive side of herself? Was it the childishness that poked its way through sometimes, the open-eyed innocence of a doe that she seemed to possess? Was it her nymph-like beauty? Or was it the way she could always read him, _always_ know what to say to make him once more himself? Whatever it was, he had gone through the days as if someone had pressed a button labelled "automatic". With blank eyes and a significant lack of interest in everything, he performed his duties. But he was nothing but a wooden Pinocchio, waiting for someone to breathe life into him.

Someone with violet eyes…

He had searched for those violet eyes, every hour of every day. Whether awake or asleep, he was always searching. For a smirk, a punch to his gut, anything. Anything at all.

And then, when he had almost given up on wishing upon stars, she came back.

Standing defiantly in the window frame, she had looked at him. Then she proceeded to kick him in the chin, order him to obey her without explaining herself at all and lectured him.

Well Rukia certainly hadn't changed.

A smile played on Ichigo's lips. From the moment she had crashed headfirst back into his life, he had felt the light gushing back in. The simple things suddenly seemed so much more wonderful, it was as if just the mere presence of Rukia had opened up a new dimension to the world he'd known to be his. Life felt new with Rukia once again in his closet; her closeness which allowed him to know she was safe also gave him a feeling of security.

Of course, he'd never tell her any of those things. That would be absurd.

Ichigo looked at his clock. The pale face read 2:00 but sleep had not yet taken hold of him. Ichigo had relied on sleep to bring him dreams of the raven-haired shinigami but now that she had returned, he felt as if he didn't need sleep anymore.

He suddenly felt an urge to look at her. With softly-placed footsteps, he made his way over to the closet and gently teased the door open.

Newly bathed in moonlight, her elfin features were tilted slightly towards him. Curled up tightly in the small space of the closet and dressed in satin pyjamas, she looked calm and serene. For the second time in one day, one hour in fact, that warm, genuine smile donned Ichigo's lips. For a person who spent most of his time frowning, he found it incredible that the mere sight of Rukia could make his face break into a smile.

After watching her peaceful slumber for a few more moments, he softly closed the door. About to make his way back to his own bed, Ichigo stopped in his tracks. It was as if some incredible force was pulling him towards the closet; for this first night at least, he felt that the even the distance between his bed and the closet was too far. The desire he felt for being near her was too great.

As Ichigo settled himself on the floor beside the closet, his last thought before he nodded off to sleep was that he would never, _ever_ let her go again…

Somewhere in the darkness an owl screeched a deafening high note. Not too far away, in a closet in Karakura town, Kuchiki Rukia awoke with a start. She cursed the light nature of her sleep. Now it would take her ages to fall asleep again.

As she lay awake in the darkness waiting for sleep to come to her, Rukia's thoughts turned to her current bedroom which, also happened to be Ichigo's. In just the confines of these four walls, so many memories had etched themselves onto her mind. Lifting a hand, she delicately traced the stubbly inside wall of the closet and thought over the past eventful months.

She remembered the day she walked into the carrot-headed idiot's room. She was searching for a hollow but what she found was a boy, a boy with unusually high spiritual power. It was a chance encounter, an accident one might say; who would have thought it possible that this meeting would have changed Rukia's life so much?

Why she transferred her powers to him was even to her, still a puzzle. She had a duty yes, but that duty did not involve performing such an act, in fact her duty strongly forbid her to do such a thing. She had broken the rules and disgraced the noble family of Kuchiki. And for what? A human boy? It was ridiculous, it made no sense.

The truth was, sense played no part at all in her actions that fateful day. No, it was something in his eyes; a fire, a determination he had that compelled her to help him save his family.

After that she had no choice but to force him to take over her duty as a shinigami. She promised herself, as soon as her powers came back, she would return to Soul Society. With that in mind she taught him (with a lot of frustration) all that she knew of the art of slaying hollows. She watched him grow as a shinigami, she watched him grapple with both pain and joy, she watched him…

…turn from a boy into a man.

And being with him changed her too. It seemed as if for the first time since Kaien-dono's death, she was living again. She knew she didn't deserve it, after the crime she had committed, but it was so hard not to enjoy this carefree life, the teasing banter she shared with Ichigo on their walks home from school. She let herself imagine…

All too soon Rukia realised a fondness growing in her heart for the amber-eyed human boy.

So what did she do? She ran.

She couldn't, wouldn't allow herself to feel such emotions. She had once and what had that done for her? The man she loved once was dead, slain by her own two hands. Love was an intangible thing, a puff of cloud in a summer day's sky. It wound itself seductively around you, then tightened its grip, suffocating you, choking you. Rukia had learnt it was safer to live like her Niisama. Dignified and cold, Kuchiki Byakuya had no-one he could say he was close to, not even his own sister but what of that? His solitariness meant that he had no-one to lose. Surely the pain of losing someone was far worse than the pain of having no-one.

So she left a note on Ichigo's desk, thanking him for everything. Tears threatened to spill and her hands shook but she forced herself to do it. It was the right thing to do, the only thing she could do. With one last look over the room she'd come to think of as home, she jumped out the window and started walking away.

She met her brother and Renji; they had come to take her away. Fair enough, she hadn't expected anything else. She realised she would have to face her punishment sooner or later. What surprised her though was that idiot, that stupid, _stupid_ Ichigo had once again disobeyed her and come after her. The battle that ensued between Ichigo and Niisama pulled at her very heartstrings, she felt a fear like none she'd ever felt, grip her.

_Niisama will kill him!_

Anguished and not knowing what to do, she used a tactic she had perfected from watching her brother all those years. Putting on a cold, expressionless mask, she proceeded to tear Ichigo apart, to break his resolve, his desire to save her. She betrayed him, she humiliated him. She left him bleeding in the rain and as she turned to follow her brother and friend, she felt her heart break.

And yet, _and yet_, through all that, he still persevered. He had come to Soul Society, he had saved her. After everything she had done to him, he had still followed her. And just as he had stopped the blade from cutting her soul apart, she had looked into his eyes and seen that fire, that determination, that same look that had compelled her to help him save his family.

This time, he was looking at her.

She had said a farewell to him a few days later. But she knew that farewell wouldn't last. She would go back to him; she had known that all along. She was just waiting for a reason.

Because now Rukia knew, she knew he would always be there for her, and she would always be there for him. And she wasn't afraid.

Of course she'd never tell him any of those things. That would be absurd.

Feeling a sudden urge to look at him she softly opened the door and climbed out of the closet. To her surprise, she found the object of her thoughts lying asleep at her feet. A tender smile flittered across her face as she slowly she lowered herself next to him. Lying beside him she felt the softness of his breath of her face and felt the warmth radiating from him. With a contented smile on her face, she too fell asleep.

In the morning, Ichigo and Rukia awoke tangled in each other's arms. Looking at each other, they realised, they didn't need to say anything at all.

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review? pretty please? )


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